1968 Topps Baseball Design

[cardinalcollector]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

As a v & e collector, I have to ask, is this a verifiable fact? I have never heard this explanation for those variations before. You'd think someone at Becketts, etc., would've made this distinction before.

The Cox and Brinkman variations definitely came from the MB set. This has been common knowledge for years among serious MB collectors.

Beckett is not the best source for accurate information along these lines. I have cataloged over 500 mistakes, errors, omissions, and duplication etc. from their last alphabetical checklist, and that was ONLY Cardinals. Most of these mistakes still exist in their online database. Anybody with a common name such as Jack Taylor (or John), or Craig Wilson, are almost guaranteed to be combined with everybody who had that name. I used to inform them of these mistakes years ago, but quit because they corrected very few of the errors.

As a side note, I discovered the 1968 Topps Mike McCormick variation in 1986 and was given credit from Ralph Nozaki in his Baseball Hobby News column.

[ALR-bishop]

And to think we knew you when Randy :-). Neat hobby story.

Agree on Beckett and already miss Bob Lemke at SCD.

As for MBs, Carlton is The Man

[cardinalcollector]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

And to think we knew you when Randy :-). Neat hobby story.

Agree on Beckett and already miss Bob Lemke at SCD.

As for MBs, Carlton is The Man

Thanks Al, My Dad actually bought me the "Win-a-Card" game back in 1968. We lived in St. Louis and Bob Gibson was my favorite player. When I opened the game I remember my Dad saying "now don't be disappointed if Gibson isn't in there, there is only so many cards.......and then he showed up, a bright beautiful 1968 Topps #100 Bob Gibson. I remember to this day the look on my Dad's face, like divine intervention was involved.

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by cardinalcollector

As a side note, I discovered the 1968 Topps Mike McCormick variation in 1986 and was given credit from Ralph Nozaki in his Baseball Hobby News column.

That's a great discovery! Any chance of having an extra McCormick to trade?

[cardinalcollector]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

That's a great discovery! Any chance of having an extra McCormick to trade?

Sorry Darren, I don't even have one myself now.

[goheels]

Neat story, Randy. We were Braves fans and I got three Aarons in the first game I ever got. Thanks, Dad!

Still have all the cards from my original game but don't have that particular game board.

Hope this picture brings back some good memories for you.

[paul]

Here's my favorite 1968 Topps card. I wish I could find one that had all the colors applied to it.

[cardinalcollector]

Great card Paul, here's mine, from the same sheet

[goheels]

Six Eddie Brinkman 1968 cards in chronological order:

1. Regular Brinkman, gold back, white letters, Jan-Feb 1968
2. O pee chee Brinkman, brown back, white letters, Jan-Feb 1968
3. Topps Milton Bradley Brinkman, yellow back, yellow letters, Apr 1968

The card is a beauty, looks flawless

4. Topps Milton Bradley Brinkman, yellow back, yellow letters, Apr 1968

Eddie was great with autographs before his untimely death in 2008. Had a smile as wide as the Mississippi when he signed this.

5. Topps Milton Bradley Brinkman/Winston Hill miscut, yellow back, yellow letters, Apr 1968.

One of my favorite MB cards. I call it the "missing link".

6. Topps Venezuelan Brinkman, brown mustard back, yellow letters, ? in 1968.

Note also the yellow letters!

Between Jan/Feb 1968 and the production of the MB cards in April, Topps corrected a huge mistake they made with the white letter Brinkman and Cox. Unlike all the other 1968 Washington Senators cards, those were the only two that did not have yellow letters. In the first series, the Ed Stroud #31 and Senators rookies #96 are always found with the proper yellow letters.

They continued to get it right with the Venezuelan issue. I am not an expert on that series but I assume they were produced around mid Spring.

In 1968 there were 10 different color schemes for the position/team circle on the front. The Giants also had the green circle/yellow letter scheme. Perhaps the same person who didn't tint in the Cox and Brinkman in series 1 decided to reprise his error in the 5th series with the #400 McCormick card.

I have looked a long time for 1968 Senators and Giants cards with white letters and haven't found any. I noticed the yellow letters on the Cox/Brinkman cards in the first MB game I got. It always bothered me that they were different from the regular 68s in my collection.

That would be a pretty good clinical definition of obsessive compulsive disorder.

[ALR-bishop]

Really a neat item Carlton.

And you certainly do have a disorder, but it is one shared by several folks around these parts

[cardinalcollector]

Originally Posted by goheels

Neat story, Randy. We were Braves fans and I got three Aarons in the first game I ever got. Thanks, Dad!

Still have all the cards from my original game but don't have that particular game board.

Hope this picture brings back some good memories for you.

Great pic Carlton, thanks. That Cardinal on the box front always reminded me of Mike Shannon and/or Phil Gagliano. I'm sure its just a generic Cardinal though.